Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Fredric Alan Maxwell

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was delete. Sandstein 09:51, 17 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Fredric Alan Maxwell

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Several editors have expressed the concern that this article does not meet the criteria of WP:AUTHOR so I am bringing it to AFD for community discussion. (But abstaining from !voting myself). Vrac (talk) 12:28, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Don't Delete Vrac, you're definitely not a basque terrorist, but wiki policies prevent me from saying what I really thing of you. The WP:AUTHOR category itself is bullshit. So a person is not an author unless:

Authors, editors, journalists, filmmakers, photographers, artists, architects, and other creative professionals:

1.The person is regarded as an important figure or is widely cited by peers or successors.

2.The person is known for originating a significant new concept, theory, or technique.

3.The person has created or played a major role in co-creating a significant or well-known work or collective body of work. In addition, such work must have been the subject of an independent book or feature-length film or of multiple independent periodical articles or reviews.

4.The person's work (or works) either (a) has become a significant monument, (b) has been a substantial part of a significant exhibition, (c) has won significant critical attention, or (d) is represented within the permanent collections of several notable galleries or museums.

And you're citing sales as indicative of whether Fred is an author. I'm sure there are hundred of thousands if not millions of writers out there who would have your head over that definition. You're no editor, you're an [expletive deleted]. Thanks for wasting all my time last weekend, on a holiday, no less. [Expletive Deleted]

The rest of you "delete" voting [expletive deleted]'s, what the [expletive deleted] is wrong with you? Author has to be notable? And have coverage? I thought the point of wiki was to avoid commercial usurpment of the internet? Stay on the internet, I never want to meet you "editors" in public. Blevenberg (talk) 15:42, 12 September 2015 (UTC)— Blevenberg (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. [reply]

Delete, very obscure; author not notable for own stub article. Kierzek (talk) 13:14, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Delete Not enough coverage in independent, reliable sources to verify or sustian article. Fails Wikipedia's General Notability Guidelines and WP:NAUTHOR. Subject appears to be adept at self promotion. Citing an article about oneself written by oneself no matter the publisher does not contribute to notability. Jbh ^Talk 14:10, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Delete Marginally notable author of marginally notable book. Book Amazon sales rank: #1,721,799. Currently remaindered. Fails WP:AUTHOR. John Nagle (talk) 17:51, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Don't Delete Oh, I see, the page has been up for over a decade, but now, for some reason, someone named Vrac keeps removing references, citations, and around half the content of the page -- then others claim there are not enough independent sources. It's a classic example of the kid who kills both his parents then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he's an orphan. And he repeatedly adds a defamatory statement, insinuating that I wasn't investigated by the Secret Service with absolutely no evidence to back him up. Zip. Zero. Nada. What's more, unlike what any formally-educated professional journalist learns in the first few days of class, he failed to put "allegedly" in front of the bogus charge that I made a threat to George Bush, after cutting out all references to, as The Washington Post reported (June 24, 2003), ironically in their Reliable Sources column, the humorous hand-written fan letter Hillary Clinton sent me about the piece. That's notable. Then he puts the page up for deletion and runs away. Vrac also removed all references to my helping lead a successful civil disobedience action at our national Library of Congress that rolled back reduced hours (See August, 1989 Eight Days in Hell Regardies), something I testified before Congress about three times, and spent eight days in the DC jail for, and of course, a main reason The New Yorker ran a short Talk of the Town profile of me. Way less than one percent of all professional authors are even mentioned in TNY, let alone profiled. Clearly, The New Yorker thinks I'm notable. Oh, and my unauthorized Steve Ballmer biography had a full-page review in The New York Times Book Review. Ask a professional author how many of his or her brethren has had that happened to their books (Spoiler Alert: way way way less than one percent of all books published.) Here's my resume, virtually all verifiable.FredTheBiped2 (talk) 07:09, 10 September 2015 (UTC)— FredTheBiped2 (talk • contribs) has made few or no other edits outside this topic. [reply]

We do not make any judgement about a person being an author or not. We do, as we are doing in this discussion make a judgement about whether a person meets Wikipedia's specific notability criteria for authors. There is no need for to post your resume here. It has no bearing on the discussion and disrupts the process. Thank you for your understanding. Jbh ^Talk 19:43, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

I do not understand how posting evidence to the contrary of the attempt to delete my page within a week disrupts the process. Kindly let me know, jdhnuley FredTheBiped2 (talk) 07:09, 10 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Fredric Alan Maxwell Writer XXXXXXX (contact information)

Books

Bad Boy Ballmer: The Man Who Rules Microsoft (Morrow, 2002; HarperBusiness paper 11/03) Unauthorized biography of Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer. Reviewed by the New York Times Book Review (full page), Publisher’s Weekly, Worth, Booklist, and numerous other pubs. One of Booklist's Top Ten Business Books for 2002-2003. Translated into Chinese, Japanese, German, Russian, Korean, and Romanian. Has gone paper in China, Russia, and Germany. Showing My Color (Harper Collins,1996) Assisted Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune columnist and News Hour contributor Clarence Page with researching and editing his collection of race relations essays. War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics (Macmillan,1996) Assisted the late Cleveland Plain Dealer Washington Bureau Chief Tom Brazaitis and his wife, Eleanor Clift, of Newsweek, with researching and editing their study of seven players in the health care reform debate. The Autobiography of Leonard Peltier (collaborator, unpublished) 1991-92. Letters to Myself (unpublished novel) 1990.Albionian ’77 (college yearbook) Editor-in-Chief.

Periodicals

The New York Times Magazine, "Spooked," 4/27/03; The Austin-American Statesman, “You’re better than this, Austin,” 7/29/08; “Is peace of mind worth all the aggravation? 1/22/10; The New Yorker, "The Vietnam Undead," 11/30/92; The Texas Observer; “Deep in My Heart in Texas,” 3/21/08. Harper’s, "Of Memories, Mom, and the Library of Congress," 5/93; Michigan Today, “The Late Great 98: Tom Harmon on the field and at war.” 9/17/08; Newsweek, "Chipping Away At Civilization," 5/19/86; Regardie’s, "Eight Days in Hell," 8/89. Additional work has appeared in US News and World Report, The Missoula Independent, The Washington Spectator, Washington Dossier, The Washington Post, Library Juice, The Miami Herald, Topeka Metro-News, Lefthander’s Magazine, and Seattle Weekly. Editor & Publisher, The Maxwell Report 81-83.

Speaking

The Todd Mundt Show, NPR, Ann Arbor, MI 4/28/03; Guest Lecturer: University of Nevada (Las Vegas) 4/3/06 and 4/10/06; University of New Mexico (Albuquerque) 10/26/05 “How to Commit Good Journalism” and “A Tale of Two Steves: Jobs and Ballmer;” University of Washington, 3/14/98: "Sex in Politics" and "Did Newt Gingrich Plagiarize his dissertation?" Albion College 0/14/99 and E.W. Seaholm High School 10/19/99 on book-in-progress Rich Kids from Birmingham (which morphed into Bad Boy Ballmer). Prepared and presented nationally reported testimony before the U.S. Congress concerning public accessibility to our national Library of Congress 5/5/86, 1/26/93, 2/8/94.

Publicity

Pieces about or quoting Fredric Alan Maxwell have appeared in numerous venues including The Guardian (London), National Public Radio, Washington Post, Forbes, New York Daily News, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, New York Times, The New Yorker, Associated Press, Ann Arbor News, Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Roll Call, Kansas City Star, Topeka Capitol-Journal, Seattle Times, and Plain Dealer.

Craftsman

Fred the Finisher 1997-2000, 2006-7: Funded writing addiction by refinishing bright work (wood) on yachts. Authored open letter to American Psychiatric Association in vain attempt to get recreational boat ownership recognized as a mental disorder. 48 Degrees North, 8/00; Latitudes & Attitudes, 7/03; Latitude 38, 3/05; and The Atlantic, 10/04 (letters).

Organizing

Founding Executive Director, The Vietnamese Memorial Association (VMA) 1992-93. Established 501(c) 3 dedicated to building memorials in Vietnam to honor the war dead and foster reconciliation among the living. VMA morphed into the Vietnamese Children's Fund, dedicated to the memory of Lew Puller, Jr., which currently funds school construction in Vietnam.

Formal Education

Stanford University Professional Publishing Course (SPPC), Palo Alto, CA, 1983 and 2002: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1979 post-graduate study in American Social History; Albion College, Albion, Michigan 75-78 B.A. in Economics, minors in English and History. Albion College Scholarship. Dean’s List. Additional study at the universities of Virginia, Maryland, Case Western Reserve, and Georgetown.

Military Service

Chief of Naval Operations Personal Staff, Washington, D.C. 1973-75 "Flawless" Vietnam-era U.S. Navy service as non-commissioned navigation officer (QM3) on the personal staffs of Admirals Zumwalt and Holloway. National Defense Medal. Highly recommended for U.S. Naval Academy and reenlistment. US Naval Reserve 1975-1978. Honorably discharged.

Etcetera

Profiled as "Bookworm" in The New Yorker 12/14/92. Born June 17, 1954 in Birmingham, Michigan, graduating from Birmingham Ernest W. Seaholm High School June 15, 1972. Corresponded with Kurt Vonnegut and Norman Mailer. Received humorous handwritten fan letter from then-Senator Hillary Clinton after she read my New York Times Magazine piece “Spooked.” Member: Authors Guild, American Civil Liberties Union, National Public Radio, Planned Parenthood, The University of Michigan Alumni Association, and The Fred Society.

FredTheBiped2 (talk) 19:39, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

— Preceding unsigned comment added by FredTheBiped2 (talk • contribs) 19:29, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. Toffanin (talk) 20:38, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions. Toffanin (talk) 20:38, 9 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Comment @FredTheBiped2: Wikipedia has policies and guidelines on what is appropriate to include in the encyclopedia. For articles the most important thing to be done is establish notability. For this we have out general notability guidelines which in short require significant coverage of the subject in independent, reliable sources. There are also various specific notability guidelines which give additional, usually easier to meet, criteria to establish notability. In this case those are the specific notability criteria for authors. If an article subject meets out notability criteria an article can be kept but it is not required to be kept. If the subject does not meet those criteria than there may not be an article on that subject included in Wikipedia. We do not make any judgement about the subject's importance or contribution to society we only judge if there has been enough coverage in independent, reliable sources to allow us to write an informative and neutral article.
If you wish to argue to keep the article you must state how the subject meets our notability criteria and how that information can be verified by coverage in independent, reliable sources. No other arguments will have any positive influence on the outcome of this deletion discussion.
Since you have stated here that you are the subject of this article you should become familiar with out conflict of interest policy. Also, please note that Wikipedia strongly discourages writing autobiographies. Please read the material I have blue linked above it goes into our policies and guidelines in detail. I realize that it looks like a lot of reading but attempting to write a Wikipedia article, particularly about yourself, is not likely to be a satisfying experience without understanding how Wikipedia works. Jbh ^Talk 16:02, 10 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Keep So I googled the book title and surname - usually works with authors ("bad boy Ballmer" maxwell) and I found an article about him in The Oregonian, here: [1] True, the journalist was using him as a poster boy for a category, but, still, it's a pretty extensive bio. Here: [2] The Guardian quotes him as an expert on Ballmer. Here [3] Fox News cites the Ballmer book. Tried search on book sans Maxwell, here's reviewfrom the Seattle Post Intelligencer [4] and here's a review from the NYTimes [5]. That puts him over the top. I'm going back to the top of this stream of consciousness iVote to type in Keep. E.M.Gregory (talk) 17:12, 10 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Those seem to be better sources to support the notability of the book rather than the author Jbh ^Talk 19:56, 11 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Notability for the book makes some sense. Steve Ballmer is notable, and there aren't many book length bios of him. The author, not so much. A mention in Steve Ballmer is probably sufficient. John Nagle (talk) 21:45, 12 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Comment Tagged WP:SPA's and likely SOCKS see Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Blevenberg

Blvenberg is not a sock but rather MEAT. See tags on the article Talk page. Jytdog (talk) 20:28, 12 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Duh... I should have seen that. Jbh ^Talk 21:54, 12 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Delete book may be notable; author doesn't meet WP:GNG Jytdog (talk) 20:30, 12 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Oregon-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 00:06, 13 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Delete The cites that have turned up so far are pretty minor. This person doesn't meet wp:author - having published one book that got at best lukewarm reception, and no major reviews. I don't know what other categories he could satisfy, but it hardly matters because, IMO, wp:gng isn't met. LaMona (talk) 15:30, 13 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Keep. The book was translated into Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and German, . s̄ a general rule, if there is an author notable for one book, it makes more sense to keep the article on the author, because it is likely to be expanded if they write other books; the book article is much less likely. DGG ( talk ) 19:48, 14 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.